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Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

In order to continue to receive financial aid, students must be making Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). Satisfactory Academic Progress is defined as sufficiently moving toward successful completion of degree requirements. A student’s SAP status will be reviewed 3 times a year - at the end of fall term, end of spring term, and after the third summer term. All students who were enrolled on or after the first day of the term will have their Satisfactory Academic Progress calculated at the end of the term.

Financial Aid Recipients must maintain satisfactory academic progress in all 3 areas whether or not aid was received in the past.

Programs affected include:

Federal Pell Grant

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)

Federal Direct Loans (both subsidized and unsubsidized)

Federal Perkins Loans

Federal PLUS Loans

Federal Graduate PLUS Loans

Federal Teach Grants

Federal Graduate Teach Grants

Federal Work Study (FWS)

PHEAA Grant falls under state guidelines, discussed later.

NOTE: While the following information gives the MINIMUM credits needed to maintain SAP, students should take into account that in order to graduate in the normal 4-year time span, undergraduate students should be completing 30 credits per year. Earning less than 30 credits per year will mean taking longer than 4 years to graduate.

Undergraduate Students

1. GPA Requirement:

Cumulative GPA Must Be

By End Of Term One

1.7

By End of Term Two

1.7

By End of Term Three

1.7

By End of Term Four

2.0

NOTE: Any terms you were enrolled (including
summer and any terms enrolled at another institution) will be counted in number of terms of enrollment.

2. PACE Requirement:

Complete at least 67% of credits attempted. (All attempted
hours are counted, including transfer hours, classes from which a
student withdrew after the drop/add period, and any failed classes. All
credits are counted whether or not financial aid was received.)

EXAMPLE: If you have attempted 30 credits, and
have passed 21 of them, you have passed 70% of your credits.
Alternately, if you attempted 30 credits and passed only 18, you have
earned only 60% of your credits and would not be making Satisfactory
Academic Progress.

3. Maximum Time Frame Requirement:

Federal
guidelines state a student can attempt no more than 150% of the number
of credits needed to graduate. The total number of credits needed to
complete an undergraduate program at Shippensburg is 120 credits.
Therefore, students may attempt no more than 180 credits (150% of 120) before exceeding the maximum time frame requirement.

All attempted
hours are counted, including transfer hours, classes from which a
student withdrew after the drop/add period, and any failed classes. All
credits are counted whether or not financial aid was received.

Graduate Students

1. GPA Requirement:

Maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA.

2. PACE Requirement:

Complete 67% of credits attempted. (All attempted
hours are counted, including transfer hours, classes from which a
student withdrew after the drop/add period, and any failed classes. All
credits are counted whether or not financial aid was received.)

3. Maximum Time Frame Requirement:

Federal
guidelines state a student can attempt no more than 150% of the number
of credits needed to graduate. Students must complete their
degree requirements within 150% of the published length of their
academic program. For example, if your degree requires 30 graduate
credits you may not attempt more than 45 credits (150% of 30) before
exceeding the maximum time frame requirement.

All attempted
hours are counted, including transfer hours, classes from which a
student withdrew after the drop/add period, and any failed classes. All
credits are counted whether or not financial aid was received.

Review and Notification for All Students:

Satisfactory Academic Progress will be reviewed at the end of each semester (fall and spring and after the final summer term).
Students (previously in good standing) who have failed to make SAP will
first be given a WARNING TERM of aid eligibility. No appeal is needed
for a WARNING Term.

Students should work diligently to
resolve their SAP deficiency during their WARNING Term. The purpose of a
warning term is to allow a student who has failed one or more of the
SAP components an opportunity to regain compliance with the SAP
requirements for their next term of enrollment. Students who are out of
compliance for one or more components of SAP after their Warning Term
are ineligible for further financial aid until all deficiencies are
remedied, or they submit a successful appeal (see APPEALS below).

All
students who fail to meet SAP requirements will be notified by e-mail
to their official Shippensburg University e-mail address. This notice
can be sent by letter to the student's permanent address if requested in
writing by the student.

Regaining Eligibility for Financial Aid for All Students:

The student may resolve GPA and/or PACE (credits earned) deficiencies by taking courses on their own (no federal aid). When you have successfully completed coursework that resolves your SAP deficiency please notify the Financial Aid Office. You may complete and return the SAP Deficiency Form or e-mail finaid-sap@ship.edu.

Cumulative GPA can only be improved by taking courses at Shippensburg University.

PACE deficiency may be made up with credits earned at
Shippensburg or another approved university (see your academic advisor).

It
is the student's responsibility to notify the Financial Aid Office once
grades have been transferred from another institution. We cannot adjust
financial aid awards until the credits appear on your transcript at
Shippensburg. You will need to contact the Dean of your particular
school to have your grades reviewed and entered onto your Shippensburg
transcript.

If extenuating circumstances exist, the student may
file an appeal, and if the appeal is granted, may have federal funding
reinstated.

Appeal Procedures for All Students:

Federal regulations allow for students to appeal the loss of their financial aid. PLEASENOTE:
An appeal to have Financial Aid reinstated is separate from appealing
to be academically reinstated if you are dismissed from the university.
Financial Aid appeals will be considered only if a student's failure to
comply with one or more areas of SAP is due to events beyond the
student’s control, such as death of an immediate family member, or severe illness or injury of the student that results in a substantial amount of missed time from classes.

A letter of appeal, typed and no longer than one page, that explains (1) why the student failed to make satisfactory progress and (2) what has changed in the student's situation that will allow him or her to make satisfactory progress at the next evaluation.

Written documentation of the special circumstance(s) from a third party NOT related to the student. Please note, if the special circumstance involves an injury or illness, we must receive a letter from the doctor's office, on their letterhead, corroborating your claim. Copies of prescriptions or doctor's chart notes will not be accepted.

Students
who have their appeals granted and have been evaluated by the Appeals
Committee as being able to regain compliance with all components of SAP
within the next term of enrollment will be placed on PROBATION and will
receive aid for one additional term only. This one term of aid
will be called the student’s "Probation Term". (Aid awards may show a full
year of aid, but the second term will NOT be disbursed until the
student is reviewed.)

Students who have their appeals granted
but have been evaluated by the Appeals Committee to be ineligible to
regain compliance with all components of SAP within the next term of
enrollment will be required to submit an Academic Plan. Students who are
required to submit an Academic Plan will be sent an email with a link
to the Academic Plan form. The academic plan (to be developed with your
academic advisor or Associate Academic Dean) must bring you back in to
compliance with the SAP policy and must specify your academic
performance requirements (credits earned and term GPA) for each term of
enrollment covered by the plan. The Financial Aid Office must approve all academic plans before a student's aid is reinstated. Students
on PROBATION with an academic plan MUST meet the terms of their Academic
Plan each term or the student will lose eligibility for any additional
federal aid.

All students on financial aid probation will have
their SAP reviewed after their probation term to determine if they are
in compliance with the Satisfactory Academic Progress policy. Students
who fail to regain compliance with all components of SAP after their
probation period are ineligible for further financial aid. Subsequent
appeals for additional terms of aid after failing to regain compliance
during the probation term will NOT be considered unless there are HIGHLY
unusual circumstances.

If you are experiencing academic
difficulties we strongly encourage you to seek tutoring assistance. This
service is offered free of charge through the Learning Center
which is located on the first floor of the Lehman Memorial Library. For
an appointment please contact their office at (717) 477-1420.

NOTE:
Due to FERPA regulations, we cannot give this information to anyone but
the student, so please do not have your parents or anyone else call on
your behalf. You may view more information about FERPA from the U.S.
Department of Education. Be aware that our Authorization to Release
Information Form used by the Financial Aid Office does not authorize us
to release this information to a parent or any other individual.

Treatment of Special Grades for SAP Review:

I
(Incomplete): "I" grades do not count as earned credits or influence the
grade point average in the semester in which the course work has been
taken. However, an incomplete grade will count toward total attempted
credits. Once the 'I' grade has been resolved and a passing grade has
been earned, the credits and the grade will then be counted toward
satisfying attempted grades that are completed, and the grade point
average requirements.

W (Withdrawal): "W" grades do not
count as earned credits or influence the grade point average. However,
these credits will count toward total attempted credits and may affect a
student's eligibility for financial aid.

P (Pass): If a "P" grade is earned, the credits will count toward
satisfying attempted credits earned, but will not affect the student's
grade point average.

PHEAA State Grant Academic Progress for Undergraduate Students

A
review of a student's academic progress for the PA state grant will be
made once a year after the spring semester. In order to be eligible for
subsequent state grant awards, a student who was enrolled full-time
(12+ credits per term) must earn at least 24 new credits each year.
Students who were enrolled part-time (6 to 11 credits per term) must
earn 12 new credits each year.

If you previously took a course and
earned a 'D' or better grade, the credits earned the 2nd time you take
the class will not count as new. If you are retaking a course which you
failed previously, or received a "W" for withdrawing from the class,
these credits will be counted as a new credits for the PA state grant
progress requirement.

Students can earn credits in the summer to meet
the credits needed for academic progress for the following year. When you have successfully completed coursework that resolves your credit
deficiency please notify the Financial Aid Office. You may complete and
return the SAP Deficiency Form (which can be downloaded from the " Forms and
Links" tab on the Financial Aid homepage) or e-mail finaid-sap@ship.edu. Please
review the following examples:

Example: Student
registers for 12 credits in the fall semester but only passes 9 credits.
Student then registers for and earns 15 credits during the spring term.
The student is still maintaining academic progress for PHEAA Grant (9 +
15 = 24).

Example: Student earns 9 credits in the fall, 9
credits in the spring and registers for and earns 6 credits in the
summer. Student is eligible for PHEAA the following year.

Example:
Student earns 12 credits in the fall but 3 of those credits are for a
course the student took before and passed by earning a “D.” The student
earns 12 credits in the spring for a total of 24 credits. The student is
NOT making progress under PHEAA guidelines since 3 of the 24 credits
are for a course already passed once.

Students are only eligible to receive a PHEAA State Grant for a maximum of 8 full-time semesters.

Please consult the financial aid office
if you have any questions about this progress requirement. Or you may
e-mail finaid-sap@ship.edu.